Quick history rundown The universe came into being. Along with the four gods. The four gods were formless and nameless at this point and set about creating things. The god who would later become Amana started to create a world and the other three gods were interested in this new creation. They began to help creating creatures and plants and other forms of life. The gods actions resulted in the creation of intelligent beings who became known as The Thinking Races. These were The Humans, The Dragons, The Invallar and The Fairies. The thinking Races gave names and forms to these gods. They named Amana and revered her as the wise creator. They named Luenna and loved her as their caring protector. They named Mahsri and respected him as a being of absolute power. They named Filik and feared him as a destroyer. After a time the meddling of the other gods started to cause problems and so Amana kicked the other gods out of the world before stepping back herself and allowing the new races to act on their own. Luenna retreated to her previously created realm of light, Heaven and began to create a new race all her own. She created the angels, modeling them after the resourceful humans. Mahsri returned to his previously created realm of darkness, Hell and he was angry about being kicked out of the world and created a race of beings intent on using them to wreak vengeance. These were the original demons, known later as The Ancients. They were extremely powerful, but mindless beings who existed only to kill. Mahsri saw them and regretted his actions. He locked them deep in hell and set upon creating new beings. He realized he didn't want to kill the world, he just wanted to own it so he created the proper demons, following Luenna's example and making them modeled after humans. Filik was unable to create anything on his own, Chaos only being capable of changing or destroying things so he simply returned to his realm which Amana kindly made for him and sulked. Amana contacted the other gods after a bit and made a pact that none of them would interfere directly with the course of the world and the gods eventually agreed. After which disaster struck as a group of entities from outside this universe arrived. These creatures called themselves The Silent Lords and proceeded to wreak devastation on the world. Enslaving The Dragons and killing off The Invalar. Due to the pact, the gods couldn't help directly so instead Amana, Luenna and Mahsri created powerful beings who could interfere on their behalf. The Demi-gods. Amana created Briar, Demi-god of Fate. Luenna created Pharus, Demi-god of Light and Mahsri created Celh' kus, Demi-god of Darkness. Filik could not create a demi-god, but he wanted to help as well and so he found a human woman and simply gave her some of his power, creating Chaless, Demi-god of Chaos. Together the four Demi-gods drove away the Silent Lords and for a time things returned to peace, until Chaless, driven insane by the power inside of her, killed Briar and was herself killed by Pharus and Celh'kus. This led to the God War. During the war, The fairies were wiped out by the demons and the war culminated in a battle in heaven, between Mahsri and Luenna. During the battle The Silent Lords reappeared and Pharus and Celh'kus died in battle with each other. An angel and a demoness tired of all the fighting, took the power of the fallen Demi-gods and ascended as the first Minor Gods. The God of Death and The Goddess of Life. They defeated The Silent Lords and sealed all of them away for good, except one who escaped and has been forgotten to history. Luenna won the war and Mahsri was weakened and returned to Hell. Luenna was also weakened from the fight and an angel named Lucifer, who had been corrupted by Darkness sought to take control of heaven from Luenna, he failed and he and those who followed him were sent into hell by Luenna where they took over, imprisoning the weakened Mahsri, killing most of the remaining demons and being trapped themselves in hell by doors created by Amana that could only be opened by Human hands. Trapped in hell they grew further corrupted by Darkness and Lucifer and his followers became the third race of demons, known as Lucifer Demons. Luenna became the supreme god on earth for a time and more minor gods ascended until one day for unknown reasons war broke out and the world was devastated. Many of the world's cities were utterly destroyed and the world's population declined by a large amount. Time passed and new factions rose to bring their own versions of Order to this world as it tried to rebuild and the world entered a period of near constant strife as The Factions battled for dominance. Which is where the story is now.
The Gods Luenna (Pronounced Loo-En-Ah) is the goddess of Light. She is formless, but often takes the form of a dark skinned woman wearing flowing golden colored robes and with long luxurious white hair. Her minor aspects are Life, Fire and Day. Her followers are currently dominant in the world and churches to her can be found all over the world. Her primary place of worship is The Vatican. She is known as nurturing, caring and her followers are supposed to care for and help others especially those who cannot help themselves. She is also jealous and spiteful if she feels she has been wronged and can be extremely vindictive. She has a new demi-god. Isaiah, Demi-God of Light. Mahsri (Pronounced Ma-Sree) is the god of Darkness. He is formless, but often takes the form of a large, nude, ebony skinned, bald male, most of his body shrouded in darkness and only glowing red eyes illuminating his otherwise blank face. His minor aspects are Death, Ice and Night. His followers are generally secretive, meeting in otherwise innoccuous locations, it is rare to find a church openly dedicated to Mahsri, but not unheard of. Worship of Mahsri is generally treated with suspicion, but is not outright banned and some may declare their worship more openly. Mahsri is known for power above all else. His followers desire power and wealth and view greed as a good thing. They do not consider themselves to be evil, most often, simply to be looking out for themselves which they see as the ultimate goal of all individuals. Indulging in Gluttony, Greed and Lust are all considered good and normal things for any follower of Mahsri and it is not uncommon for followers of Mahsri especially via the Night aspect to be extremely Sexual. Mahsri and his followers are ultimately self-serving and will not help others unless it benefits them in some way. Mahsri is also easily angered and doles out harsh punishments to those who upset him, but will reward those who serve him faithfully with power and wealth. Followers of Mahsri and Mahsri himself are not often bothered by the idea of taking what they want at the cost of others, Murderers, thieves and rapists may often count themselves among his followers. He has a new Demi-God. Hasien, Demi-God of Darkness. Amana is the Goddess of Fate. She is formless, but often takes the form of an elderly woman wearing glasses and faded orange or blue robes. Her grey hair often done up in a bun. She has been described as the ultimate stern librarian. Her minor aspects are Truth, Earth and Magic. Amana's followers are heavily organized, but secretive. Often they are members of secret orders and count among their membership the wealthy and politically powerful. Those who run the world from behind the scenes are often adherents of Amana. Nevertheless Amana and those who worship her are often respected and seen as the keepers of balance and the shepherds of history. Amana is manipulative and controlling. She quite literally holds the strings of many people's lives and while she claims all she does is for the good of the world, the good of the world always seems to specifically benefit her or her followers in some way. She has no realm of her own, no race of her own and no current Demi-god, but she walks the world in a weakened form and counts all the races of the earth as hers. Filik (Pronounced Fill-ick) is the god of Chaos. He is formless and does not often take a proper form. In statues he is usually depicted as a swirling vortex of purple and green. His minor aspects are War, Air and Madness. Filik has very few followers and worship of Filik is banned in most places. Practice of Chaos Magic specifically carries a death sentence. There are still practitioners and there are still worshippers, but they are deep underground. Constantly hunted. Chaos is rightfully feared by many, but those who practice Chaos Worship seek freedom primarily. The freedom from rules and expectations. Generally followers are anarchists or otherwise seek some form of absolute freedom at any cost. Worship of his aspects comes at less cost as it is considered perfectly fine to worship War or Air though Madness is similarly looked down upon. Filik and his followers are incapable of creation and are adept at destruction. Inarguably, Filik is the most powerful of the Gods and Chaos Magic is the most powerful of the divine Magics, but both come at the cost of a lack of control. Filik himself is cursed with no short term memory, causing him to constantly evaluate and reevaluate any situation making him highly unpredictable and dangerous since he is extremely likely to suddenly evaluate you as an enemy in any meeting with him, based on evidence you would likely never get a chance to know about. When not suffering from this problem, he instead becomes hyper focused and single minded, changing focus entirely if distracted. His followers especially practitioners of Chaos Magic tend to be in some way or another insane. His realm is known as the Shattered Realm. It was created for him by Amana and was shattered during a tantrum he threw. A barely held together realm where the laws of physics barely apply and parts float about or jump in and out of existence at random. His race are the fairies who are assumedly all extinct and he has no demi-god. Though there are claims that Chaless has been spotted alive, despite her supposed death ages ago. The Eternals The Goddess of Life, known as The Vibrant Lady, and the God of Death, known as The Dread Lord, are together referred to as The Eternals. Life resides in The Amazon rainforest and created the race of the elves and is worshipped by The Forest Elves who still reside there. Many other animals, extinct in the outside world reside there as well as strange animal human hybrids. Death resides in his own realm known as The Eternal Cemetery. He is technically worshipped by The Undead and Necromancers, but he does not have much time for his followers, constantly working and he despises most necromancers who only make his job harder. The Elements There are six major elements in this setting and each one has a god. Luenna and Mahsri are the gods of Light and Darkness of course, but there are also four minor gods who embody the material elements of Fire, Ice, Air and Earth. Vaken (Pronounced Vah-Keen) is the god of fire. He lives in Mount Etna and due to his pre-ascension past he hates humanity, especially Elemental mages. Arkynos (Pronounced Ar-Kin-No-Ss) is the goddess of ice. She lives in Antarctica and watches over The Snow Elves who worship her. Aeol Aius (Pronounced Ae-Ole- Ae-Us) is the god of air. He wanders The Sahara Desert and is worshipped by The desert Elves. Goaron (Pronounced Go-Are-On) is the god of Earth. He lives just under the earth at the bottom of The Grand Canyon. Aspects While each of the four main gods has a Major Aspect (Luenna's Major Aspect is Light, Mahsri's is Darkness, etc...) they also have minor aspects. Each of these aspects is also represented by a god who is technically considered to directly serve The corresponding Main God. While each one has an Element and Light and Dark each have an eternal as an aspect they also have specific gods who embody those aspects. The Goddess of The Morning (Aspect of Day) Oro. A goddess who represents the Day, Dawn and is also the goddess of Justice. Connected through the belief that Justice should always be performed in the light of day. It is not abnormal for Aspects to embody more than one power and that may only be tangentially related. As is also the case for The Mistress of Night, Lust and Secrets, Nyx. She represents The Night and through it all that is hidden and sexual passion in the form of Lust. She is something of a godly information broker and after Lucifer's take over of hell she took most of the ousted Succubi and Incubi under her wing. She controls a vast secret network consisting primarily of criminals, Sex workers and other beings who thrive in the shadows. The God of Truth, Veras exists in a specific realm known as The Crucible. Those deemed worthy are pulled into this realm to be judged by the combination of Veras and Oro. They seek not to punish, but to reveal the truths that one hides from even themselves. Veras is worshipped by many in the job of law enforcement and is also seen as a God of Law and Order by some. The Goddess of Magic, Rhea is The Goddess who oversees the flow of magic throughout the Universe. She is also the holder of the knowledge of Arcane Magic being the last being in existence who has knowledge of it and she alone chooses who is worthy to have knowledge of it's workings. Ares, God of War. A god who grew in power and was very prominent right up until The War that brought forth The Apocalypse. There have been no sightings of him since the War and those who worship him say he has not been answering their calls. Some believe that he has gone missing and others claim he may even be dead. Saros, Goddess of Madness. Saros is a little known Goddess, despite being a minor aspect she is hardly ever seen. This might be because the only ones who have ever interacted with her and the only ones who worship her are all incurably mad. Lesser Gods There are multitudes of Gods who serve either no specific God or who work below one of the Minor Aspects. Most of these gods are barely known, but some have risen to have followers of their own or at least make a name for themselves as opposed to the multitudes of unknown minor gods. Chronos, The God of Time is a god who's job primarily is simply to exist. He oversees the proper flow of time and unless something has gone seriously wrong, he does not do much. Time Magic is a thing, but very few are even aware of it let alone capable of using it which makes his job much easier. Shikra and Niessa- The Goddess of Nightmares and Goddess of Dreams are actually two halves of the same being and they both work directly for Nyx. Moira, Goddess of Luck. Moira seems to serve both Fate and Chaos, but is often seen by Amana's side. She seems as likely to assist Amana as to try and openly hinder her, an arrangement that Amana seems surprisingly okay with and she will often refer to Moira with great affection. Trace, God of Vengeance. An enigmatic God. He is worshipped only temporarily and grants his boon to those seeking vengeance. Yet despite having only temporary worshippers there are many particularly Assassins, Hunters and others who specialize in murder via stealth or subtetly , who revere him though they do not worship him directly.
Factions The Factions each rose up and claimed a portion of the world as their own. The Carbine In Asia The Carbine arose formed by the scattered remnants of the Pre-war government systems of Asia. They sought initially to simply bring back some semblance of Order, however their goals were shattered and changed to simply trying their best to protect their citizens and survive as Asia was rapidly overtaken by The Scars. Their primary strength is better equipment than most other current militaries and a robust training system that has turned out some of the best Assassins of any Faction. Their weakness is that they were caught unaware, starved for resources and their forces and their leadership are split between Japan and The Middle East by the bulk of The Scars controlling the rest of Asia leaving them with the smallest active military and unable to coordinate their efforts effectively. They currently control Japan and The Middle East. The Scars The Scars started as a religious movement in Russia. They exploded quickly from a small religious movement into a full blown military that caught the Carbine forces unaware and forced them out of mainland Asia leaving them in control of only Japan and The Middle East while The Scars gained control of the rest of Asia with their main forces located in Russia and China. The Scars are constantly fighting with The Archaic and The Carbine at their borders, but have little issue repelling their opponents. The crux of their religion is the belief that the gods created the concept of pain to keep mortals under the control of the gods. As such through self inflicted torture and the use of magical relics gathered from around the globe they have rid themselves of the ability to feel pain and the fear of death. Their strength comes from their fanaticism, inability to feel pain and the use of these magical relics. They also employ an almost legendary Military Strategist known by the name The Crimson Gear. Their weakness is they often seek to capture rather than kill opponents, believing they can convert captured enemies via torture, truly believing that doing so is a moral act and that eventually all will see the truth of their words and as one the mortals will rise up against the gods. They also have a rather weak military in terms of training or equipment and rely heavily on their relics and fanaticism to overcome stronger militaries. They control all of Asia except Japan and The Middle East. The Archaic The Archaic are a Magocracy who believe that those who have mastered Magic are the only ones fit to guide and rebuild this broken world. As such they have taken over Europe (With the exception of Italy and a portion of Spain known as The Clockwork Union.) They do not worship or oppose any gods and with the exception of Chaos Magic and Arcane Magic, they see all forms of Magic as valid. They seek to dominate the world and the mundane masses, for their own good of course. Their greatest strength is of course they're ability to use magic and the inclusion of many of the most powerful mages in their military. Their weakness is that while they understand that having a military of only mages would result in too small a military to be of much use, they still view non-mages as second class citizens leading to many of their basic infantry troops, who are conscripted from the countries that The Archaic have taken forcefully under their control, to be very disloyal, the threat of The Scars and The Empire being pretty much the only thing keeping them from turning on their magical companions. They control most of Europe with the exception of Spain and Italy. The Empire The Empire was an extremely powerful Faction that at one point controlled all of Africa and South America. It was run by a family of supernatural entities. The leaders of the Empire had gained amazing power through a dark ritual. The progenitor of the family had located in Africa a mass grave of Invallar and performed rituals on the remains of the bodies to infuse his own body and that of his family with power taken from the corpses. This power gave them extreme longevity and physical powers beyond any normal mortal as well as some specific magical abilities. For instance one Son of the emperor was rumoured to be able to regenerate from any injury, including lethal ones, in mere seconds. They were also known to perform various unethical experiments on African and South American citizens to create powerful monsters and warriors. It seemed like they were poised to conquer the world, however, about a year before the setting of the RP, the Empire collapsed. The rumour was that a schism within the Empire had led to the murder of The Emperor by one of his sons, The NAW swooped in to claim South America and The Scars, Carbine and Archaic claimed Africa. However, while The NAW successfully claimed South America with little to no resistance, something is seemingly re-awakening in Africa, Archaic, Scars and Carbine forces have encountered soldiers wearing the symbol of an unknown Faction, and it is rumoured the Empire is resurfacing under the management of one of the Emperor's remaining children. Their strength is in dark magical rituals, Invallar infusions and many other forbidden or unknown rites and methods to power. Their weakness, they collapsed and even if they are returning, they have not yet returned to their full power. It is probably best that they be stopped before they can. They currently control nothing. The NAW In the war that ended the world, North America was especially hard hit. Vast swathes of it was reduced to a wasteland and very few cities remain. Eventually The NAW arose led by four enigmatic individuals known as the Council and a charismatic, but equally enigmatic spokesman known as General Razin. They helped to rebuild the broken remains of North America, re-establishing order and giving the people hope once again and the chance of something close to safety and normality. They interfere little with the rest of The Factions and have something close to a good relationship with most of the other factions, being happy to keep to themselves primarily and willing to deal with any side in order to get what they need. It's safe to say that none of the other factions really like them, especially given their willingness to help a faction just as much as they are to help that factions enemies, but the other factions have more to deal with than The NAW and so mostly leave them alone, though skirmishes over the Atlantic or Pacific have occurred in the past. Their greatest strength if it comes to combat is their access to pre-war military tech, such as missiles, Jets, tanks, Jeeps, etc... These resources are incredibly limited and they are not likely to use them except in especially dire circumstances, which their second greatest strength has fortunately kept them out of. Their second greatest strength being their diplomatic ability. They have managed to keep themselves out of the war for the most part due to their diplomatic ability. Their biggest weakness is they are still busy rebuilding an entire continent and now they are also busy taking control of South America which turned out to be a bigger problem then just ousting The remains of The Empire. They also are unlikely to actually survive any sustained conflict with another faction as their most powerful advantage would run out pretty quickly, they are also completely lacking in almost any access to magic and have little in any way to fight against non-standard military tactics. They control North America and South America to a degree. Special Faction: The Assassin's Guild. A man going by the name Andrew F. Set up a base on the island of Malta and from there he used advanced technology and amassed wealth to create what became known as The Assassin's Guild. A collection of the greatest professional killers in the world, perhaps even the universe. It quickly became a powerful political and economic entity in the world to rival any of the other Factions. However, it has no desire to rule the world, it only desires to make money and it does so by serving the interests of the other Factions. Every other Faction keeps contracts with The Assassin's Guild and any Faction Assassin is also registered with The Guild. Anyone can join The Assassin's Guild as an Assassin, but the Guild has a lot of rules and the penalty for breaking any of them is usually death. Special Faction: The Hunter Organization. Monsters are just a fact of life in the world. Vampires, Werewolves, the undead, demons and other even rarer threats are near constant. As such a loosely connected group of concerned citizens have dedicated their lives to hunting down and killing these threats. These are known as The Hunter Organization. The term organization in their name is something of a misnomer as they are hardly organized to any degree, all of them work freelance and the full extent to which they are an organization is they might be able to contact other members for backup at times. The Hunter Organization is made up of brave men and women fighting for the safety of us all... Unfortunately they are losing the war and Hunters die at a rapid rate, far faster than new members join. It's only a matter of time and then, perhaps the Factions will step in, or perhaps it will be too late.
Magic Magic comes in three main flavours. Divine Magic, Arcane Magic and Elemental Magic. There is some crossover to a degree and I'll explain as I come to it. Divine Magic Divine Magic is Magic practiced by the worshippers of The Gods, This includes also a specific form of each of the six elemental magics. Divine Elemental Mages who draw their powers from the Gods of each element are known as Elementalists. Divine Magic is considered the easiest form of Magic as it requires very little skill or knowledge of Magic itself. The power being gifted to you by a God. The following forms of Magic are unique to Divine Mages Death Magic, Life Magic, Time Magic, Lust Magic (Technically just a subcategory of Dark Magic specializing in manipulation and seduction), Fate Magic and Chaos Magic. There must be some connection to the god in charge of said magic or in the case of Death Magic some way to forcefully draw this power from The God in question in order to use these powers. Elemental Magic Elemental Magic comes in two forms. Elementalists draw their magic from the respective god of their element, while Element Mages draw their power directly from the natural world. This results in quicker and more powerful access to their magic, but also requires much more natural skill and for one to actually learn magic as opposed to being just granted your powers from somewhere else. Unfortunately for Element Mages The elements are actually a finite resource. At least in a sense. While it will never run out, the more sources drawing on an element at once the less each source could access. This led to the murder in the past of half of a race of beings known as The Elementals, personifications of each element. The Element Mages sought them out and killed them believing this would reduce the amount of energy that would be drawn from the corresponding element, resulting in more power for them. They were correct, however of the six elementals, three survived. The Elementals of Ice, Light and Fire survived and The Fire Elemental went on to eventually become The God of Fire. This also means that some Elemental Mages seek to kill other Element Mages, since each Element Mage killed results in more available for the ones who remain. Some believe that if they are the only element mage remaining they will be able to access enough of their element to be on par with a god. Arcane Magic Arcane Magic is the most mysterious and rarest of Magic. Magical theorists have debated for centuries how it works as it does not seem to follow any known laws of Magic. It does not come from a god and it does not seem to stem from any finite source. It also does not seem to have any limit, but the imagination of the mage in question. As a result it is extremely powerful. The only rule that seems to exist is that it requires verbalization of a spell in order to use, but even the spells don't seem consistent. The danger of Arcane Magic led the Magical Order (The Progenitors who would later found The Archaic's to declare war on The Arcana and kill every last one of them. The Arcana were decidedly fewer in number then the forces brought against them and had unfortunately brought all of them together in one location to the magical city called Arcanum the remains of which exist as a massive magical library covering the entirety of Australia. Despite overwhelming power, their numbers soon dwindled until they lost and each and every last Arcana was killed. As a result no one is left who knows the secrets of Arcane Magic except The Goddess Rhea. If she deems someone worthy she might impart in them the secrets of Arcane Magic and give them the ability to use it. This has only happened twice in history. Sidenote: Necromancy and what makes a Life. In this setting every living being is made up of three parts. The body, The Soul and The Spark. The Body is just that. The fleshy vessel in which the soul and spark reside. The Spark is a portion of The Goddess of Life, it is this that allows someone to truly live, that makes the body function properly. The Soul is the consciousness that animates a body. It is this that A Death Mage can exert control over. When a person dies, the body remains in this world, The Spark returns to The Goddess of Life to be embedded into the next living being, and the soul goes to The Eternal Cemetery where it will be sent on to it's proper afterlife. Only The Goddess of Life herself can grant The Spark to someone, but a Death Mage can call back a soul and put it into a body. Reanimation happens in a few ways. If only the soul is returned, but is not put into a vessel. It becomes a spirit. Ghosts, Wraiths and other beings of that sort are the result of this. If the body is animated, but with no soul, then it becomes a mindless undead. A zombie, Ghoul, etc... If the soul is placed into a body The Death Mage can either bind it or not. If bound it will be intelligent, but unable to think for itself and slave to the Mage's will. If not bound the result is an undead. A thinking creature capable of normal thought, rationalization and all, but stuck in a corpse. The corpse can be moved via the soul's power, but the body does not function normally without The Spark. This results in essentially normal humans, who are basically unkillable, but also lack any form of basic regeneration though magic can repair damage done to their bodies and stop them from decomposing. Lastly if The Soul is put into a body and then somehow The Goddess has been convinced to embed a Spark into it. It will truly be alive once again. This is considered absolutely forbidden and it would take a hell of a lot of convincing to get Life to even consider this.
Races The races that exist naturally in this setting. This is not an exhaustive list of every type of creature you might run into just the standard intelligent races that one might encounter and possibly play as. Humans Humans are exactly what one expects when one thinks of humans. By far the most common race and dominant if only by sheer numbers. They can be found living on every continent except Antarctica or The country of Australia, though there are humans on other parts of the continent of Australia. They are capable of learning all basic forms of magic, come in various racial and cultural variants and are generally proficient in tool-use. Playing as a human imposes no limitations. Undead (Physical) Undead in this case refers specifically to the intelligent undead beings that result from an unbound soul placed into a body (Or technically anything really) They can be found anywhere humans can be found, but will not often be found living in cities, prejudice against the undead is rather rampant amongst human populations so most undead choose to either live with the necromancer who created them, or in solitary locations, like old ruins or abandoned homes. They are capable of learning magic, but only Death Magic or Elemental Magic. Most divine magic is closed to them except in special occasions and they are even more unlikely than normal to be granted access to Arcane Magic. The main strength of the undead is an almost inability to die. Most often the only surefire way to permanently kill an undead is destroying the brain though any undead in a normal body that does not have a method to stop decomposition or regenerate lost tissue will eventually waste away into nothing. Playing as an undead imposes a limitation. Free Undead can not be part of any faction except The Archaic. An undead may be forced to work for any faction except The NAW or Carbine as essentially a slave work force if the player wishes to work for a faction. Sidenote: Liches. Some very powerful Necromancers, may bind their own soul into their body turning themselves into an undead. These are known as Liches they are rare and only the most powerful of Necromancers are capable of such a feat. A Lich is considered very powerful being capable mages in an undying body that they can keep alive and augment with their own magic. Undead (Spiritual) Undead in this case refers to souls with out a physical form. Most often these are simple servants bound to a necromancer, but occasionally free spirits exist. They can be found in all the same places as Physical Undead and undergo the same stigma. Spirits are capable of learning Death Magic and elemental magic. Most divine magic is closed to them except in special occasions and they are even more unlikely than normal to be granted access to Arcane Magic. Undead are often only tangentially capable of interacting with the physical world, but often have some form of magical ability to do so, telekinesis not being uncommon. They are also immune to almost anything physical, making them difficult to deal with and very dangerous. Playing as an undead imposes a limitation. Free Undead can not be part of any faction except The Archaic. An undead may be forced to work for any faction except The NAW or Carbine as essentially a slave work force if the player wishes to work for a faction. Elves (Forest) The Forest Elves are found primarily in The Amazon Rainforest. Though some may venture out into the wider world on occasion. They are immune to disease and do not age past the age of maturity appearing to be in their early to mid 20's from the day they reach maturity to the day they die. They eschew anything non-natural and commonly wear clothing made out of plant fiber or animal hide, weapons and tools made out of wood or bone and their structures are often made inside of the large trees that grow in the Rainforest. Elves have a natural affinity for Life Magic and are capable of learning any form of magic except Arcane. Elves generally come in three specific Classes. Priest or priestess are the mages who dedicate their lives to mastering Life Magic. Hunters are stealthy warriors who wield bows of wood and plant fiber or knives of bone. They primarily hunt animals in the forest, though they may also hunt threats to The Forest. Warriors are elves who wear armor made out of bone or wood and carry heavy weapons. They are often the guardians of The Elf villages. They usually have at least some life magic as well. Any elf is likely to be trained specifically as one of these three. Playing as an elf imposes a limitation. You cannot serve willingly as a member of The Scars and you cannot serve The God of Death or The Goddess of Fate. Elves (Drow) The Dark Elves or Drow are found primarily in deep caves. The largest collection of Dark Elves is in the Sơn Đoòng Cave in Vietnam. They are immune to disease and do not age past the age of maturity appearing to be in their early to mid 20's from the day they reach maturity to the day they die. Drow are fiercely Matriarchal and male Drow are kept only as breeding slaves. As a species they worship Nyx in her aspects of Night and Secrets, but their fear of the concept of Lust has led to them creating a new goddess exclusive to them. An alternate version of Nyx who embodies the Lust aspect exclusively. This goddess is known as Derisa and is seen as an evil god by The Drow who believe it exists to punish those who break the laws of The Drow. Criminals are cast into the depths of the cave which is considered to be Derisa's realm. Drow have a natural affinity for Darkness Magic and are capable of learning all forms of Magic except Arcane or Light Magic. They also have a natural affinity for Lust Magic, but it is considered forbidden and only a secret Drow sect of heretic Mages who call themselves the Children of Derisa would dare to use Lust Magic. Like their cousins they're mages are referred to as Priestesses, but they also have what are known as Shadows and Tamers. Shadows are assassins who guard the entrances into the dark places. Often wearing outfits made out of silk and wielding poisoned daggers made out of the fangs of Giant Spiders that exist in the deep. Tamers are specialist Drow who have learned how to tame the creatures of the Deep, primarily Giant Spiders, Giant Slugs and Giant Centipedes which they use to make their armor and weapons. They often wear armor made out of leather which they harvest from Giant Bats that live in the deep. Playing as an Elf imposes a limitation. You cannot serve willingly as a member of The Scars and you cannot serve The Goddess of Life or The Goddess of Light. Sidenote: Driders. Female Drow cast into the deep for their crimes, may end up indeed coming upon Derisa who has been known to mutate them into horrific Spider women known as Driders. They are found exclusively in the Deep and have poison fangs. Elves (Desert) The Desert Elves are found primarily in The Sahara Desert though there are rumours of a smaller Tribe in the Mojave and The Atacama Desert. They are immune to disease and do not age past the age of maturity appearing to be in their early to mid 20's from the day they reach maturity to the day they die. Desert Elves are patriarchal and heirarchical. Male Desert Elves are considered to be the pinnacle, with female desert elves seen as slaves, but only fit to be enslaved as a slave wife to a male desert elf. Males of other races are seen as lesser than even a female desert elf and Females of other races are seen exclusively as things to be owned, sold and used. They worship Aeol Aius after getting a first hand view of his power when they encountered a lone figure traveling the desert and sought to enslave him only to end up being almost wiped out by the traveling god. They have a natural affinity for Air and Earth Magic, but despite their worship of The Male God of Air they consider the use of Air magic to be effeminate and only Female Desert Elves are allowed to use it. They are capable of learning all forms of Magic except Arcane Magic. They are the only elf tribe willing to use guns and other unnatural weapons and the males of the desert elves are often decked in fine robes and jewelry while the women wear only sheer outfits and jewelry, their beauty being considered something that should not be hidden from the eyes of their Male counterparts. Playing as an Elf imposes a limitation. You cannot serve willingly as a Scar and you cannot serve The Carbine, NAW or Archaic. You cannot serve any female Goddess. Elves (Snow) The Snow Elves exclusively live in The Antarctic as far from other civilizations as possible while still being on the same planet. They are extremely isolationist fearing any outsiders, with the sole exception of The Goddess Arkynos who helped them survive when they first arrived in The Antarctic. They are immune to disease and do not age past the age of maturity appearing to be in their early to mid 20's from the day they reach maturity to the day they die. They are a gerontocracy with rule of The tribe going to the oldest member. They are the most physically different from their fellows, being much smaller, often less than four feet, with extremely pale skin and eyes almost devoid of pupils with pupils being only small pinpricks in the center of the eye. They have a natural affinity for Ice Magic and never quite lost their affinity for Life Magic. They are capable of learning all forms of Magic except Arcane Magic. They often dress in fur clothing and often eschew weaponry focusing more on magic though some will wield weapons formed out of ice magic. Playing as an Elf imposes a limitation. You cannot serve willingly as a Scar. Angels Angels reside in Heaven and serve Luenna. They are designed to look like perfect human specimens. Often supernaturally attractive Men and women. They are physically stronger than humans and are immortal. They can be killed, but will simply be remade eventually. They feel like flesh and blood, but are actually simply made entirely out of light, meaning that their forms are to some degree malleable though they are also vulnerable to physical damage. They're wings feel just like normal feathers, but are actually hard enough to be used as a shield. They are born with Light Magic and have affinity for Fire Magic. They cannot learn any other magic. They wear any kind of clothing, but warrior angels will often wear plate armor made out of a special mineral found in heaven called Lumeia (Which is golden in colour) higher ranking Angels might have armor or weapons made of Celestite which is basically just crystallized Light Magic. Playing as An Angel imposes limitations. You cannot serve The Scars, you cannot serve Darkness or Night. You automatically must serve Light though you are not forced to serve Light Exclusively. Sidenote: Fallen Angels. Angels who have displeased Luenna become Fallen, they are cast out of Heaven, retain most of their power, but will not be revived upon death and the longer they are away from Heaven the weaker their magic gets, until they become about on par with a human mage. If you fall or start as a Fallen Angel, you are still limited to not being a Scar, but you lose all other Limitations and get the addition that you cannot Serve Light. Demons Demons used to reside in Hell, but at this point what demons remain are scattered around the world. Mostly in hiding. Succubi and Incubi have mostly gone to serve Nyx. Demons are born with Dark Magic and have affinity for Ice Magic and Lust Magic. They can learn all forms of Magic except Light, Life or Fire. Most demons are intent on finding a way to free Mahsri and take back Hell. Playing as a Demon imposes limitations. You cannot serve The Scars, You cannot serve Light, Life or Day. You automatically must serve Darkness though you are not forced to serve Darkness exclusively. Sidenote: Lucifer Demons. The current denizens of hell are actually corrupted Angels known as Lucifer Demons, the vast majority of them are trapped in hell and need to work with human agents to escape. They use a form of Corrupted Light Magic that is mostly indistinguishable from normal Light Magic, but it can harm angels and in fact is exceptionally dangerous to non-corrupted Angels. They have major limitations in that they exclusively serve Lucifer and can not ally with any Faction or any God. Fairies Fairies are considered extinct. If there are any left they are in hiding. There are still some Chaos Altars and temples in the world that a Fairy might hide in. Fairies are born with Chaos Magic and a unique variant in the form of Illusion Magic. They cannot learn any other magic. They are often a foot or less in height and physically weak relying on magic and subtlety to deal with threats. Playing a Fairy is extremely Limited. You cannot serve any faction and you can only serve Chaos or Madness. You will also be hunted by Fate followers and Darkness Followers if your existence is learned. Dragons Dragons are considered extinct. Any who are left are probably in hiding though all dragons have the ability to take human form, so they can hide in among humans. Dragons are naturally born with super strength, flight, an elemental breath weapon and scales that are difficult to pierce by conventional weaponry. They are resistant to almost all magic save for Death Magic which they are especially vulnerable too, they are also, despite being of normal levels of intelligence, extremely vulnerable to mental attacks especially attempts to manipulate their minds. They can learn any magic. Playing a Dragon is limiting. While in human form you have no limits to what Faction you can serve, in dragon form, most beings will hunt you down, either for glory, riches or out of fear. You can serve any god in either form. Invallar The Invallar are an original race created for this setting. They are personifications of Magic. They are considered to be extinct. It is unlikely any are left alive. Invallar are naturally born with magical regeneration, natural mastery of all forms of Magic. They are immortal and incapable of natural breeding. Creation of new Invallar requires a ritual that itself requires at least 3 Invallar or 5 Master level Mages to make up for each missing Invallar. They are also as a species pacifists and disavow the killing of any living being except in dire situations. Playing an Invallar is... Not allowed unless you have a really good idea for why you should play one.
